4 comments:

We cannot sustain this level of insanity for four years . . . ...we can't even sustain it for the next 2 years.

I know everyone is saying we need to prepare for the 2018 midterms. And we absolutely need to prepare for the 2018 midterms. They are crucial. They are critical.

But even so, those are still over 15 months away at this point. Trump has been in office for just a little over 6 months.

And in those 6 months, Trump has proven himself to be far and away the most mentally unstable, mentally unhinged and entirely incompetent individual to ever hold the office of the US Presidency. No one, not even Nixon at his most paranoid, is even close to Trump's level.

It is a truly unprecedented situation.

This is at a point where it should transcend politics and partisanship at this point. As tough as it is, just for a short moment put aside things like the healthcare debate--Republicans will continue to threaten the ACA so long as they have a majority in Congress and an ally in the White House.

This goes beyond even that. This goes to bare bones matters of basic qualifications for office. It goes to matters of mental fitness for duty. We shouldn't be having that conversation about any President--Democrat, Republican, whatever. George W. Bush was lazy, unmotivated and not particularly bright, but it was never at this extreme crisis level. Not even then.

Yesterday truly brought it all home. The President of the United States goes to what should have been--and has always been--a light hearted, ceremonial photo-op: a Boy Scout jamboree. Something where you'd expect him to say a few clichéd words about the youth being the future of the country, reach for your dreams, you can do anything, yada yada yada. Standard fluff. Instead, this Madman who calls himself our President launches into a vitriolic attack yet again against political opponents and the media, goes off on wildly inappropriate tangents insinuating sexcapades on yachts, going on about his political victory. In front of Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts.

He's a lunatic. The President of the United States is a lunatic. And that is one hell of a problem that we cannot ignore.

And while we look to November 2018 as being the light at the end of the tunnel, there's just no telling what could happen that could close that tunnel shut. We have that bullshit "voter fraud" commission entirely in the hands of Trump. And if there is any sort of major crisis or terrorist attack that arises in the interim, God help us.

I'll never forget the feeling waking up on the morning of November 9, 2016 and a sense of extreme anxiety washing over me--there was a sense that this country could be headed towards a very dark place if left unchecked. It was a feeling of vulnerability that I had never, ever felt before as an American citizen. It left me--for the first time in my life--quite literally shaking.

As we stand now, we are still a Democracy, but we are a Democracy under extreme stress. I don't know what the breaking point is. I hope we will never see that breaking point, but that's going to require people to stand up and do the right thing. People who we normally wouldn't agree with. People who we probably won't agree with even after this trial of conscience is over.

In short, what needs to happen might seem like a miracle, but then a miracle is what we'll need. There needs to be just enough individuals who will place loyalty to country over party politics, even if just for this one limited and extreme and unprecedented circumstance.

This horror show needs to end, and it needs to end as soon as possible.